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25 Books to Remember from 2005


	American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer Bird, Kai, Sherwin, Martin J. \| Alfred A. Knopf, © 2005 \| B Oppenheimer B The complex life of the pioneering physicist is fully explored in this rich combination of biography and 20th Century scientific and political history. Reserve This Title
	The Assassins’ Gate: America in Iraq Packer, George \| Farrar, Straus and Giroux, © 2005 \| 956.7044 P An award-winning American journalist skillfully presents a balanced, vital, and highly readable chronicle of the ongoing Iraq War and the people affected by its consequences. Reserve This Title
	Beasts of No Nation: A Novel Iweala, Uzodinma \| HarperCollins, © 2005 \| FIC I This heartbreaking debut novel set in West Africa tells the story a young boy who is recruited by guerilla soldiers after his father’s brutal death. Reserve This Title
	Beyond Glory: Joe Louis vs. Max Schmeling, and a World on the Brink Margolick, David \| Alfred A. Knopf, © 2005 \| 796.8309 M The dramatic story of two boxers provides a context for understanding the political, cultural and social tensions leading up to World War II. Reserve This Title
	Bound for Canaan: The Underground Railroad and the War for the Soul of America Bordewich, Fergus M. \| Amistad, © 2005 \| 973.7115 B Bordewich’s thoroughly researched history of the Underground Railroad compellingly examines the abolitionist movement and the nation’s shifting sentiment about slavery Reserve This Title
	Bread and Roses: Mills, Migrants, and the Struggle for the American Dream Watson, Bruce \| Viking, © 2005 \| 331.8928 W Watson vividly reconstructs the story of 1912 textile strike in Lawrence, Massachusetts, a watershed moment in American labor history. Reserve This Title
	Carnivorous Nights: On the Trail of the Tasmanian Tiger Mittlebach, Margaret, Crewdson, Michael \| Villard Books, © 2005 \| 508.496 M This wonderful romp follows two naturalists and an artist in search of a carnivorous marsupial presumed to be extinct. Illustrated by Alexis Rockman. Reserve This Title
	Controlled Burn: Stories Of Prison, Crime, And Men Wolven, Scott \| Scribner, © 2005 \| FIC W Gritty, terse and unexpectedly moving, these stories track the lives of boxers, convicts, drifters and other hard-luck cases. Reserve This Title
	Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close Foer, Jonathan Safran \| Houghton Mifflin, © 2005 \| FIC F In this humorous, heartbreaking odyssey, Oskar Schell, the nine-year-old son of a man killed in the September 11 attacks, scours New York City to unravel the mystery of a key his father left behind. Reserve This Title
	In the Province of Saints: A Novel O'Malley, Thomas \| Little, Brown, © 2005 \| FIC O Michael’s impoverished childhood is shaped by family woes and a troubled community and nation in this compelling coming-of-age story set in rural Ireland. Reserve This Title
	Jack and Other New Poems Kumin, Maxine \| W.W. Norton, © 2005 \| 811 Kumin The fauna of her New Hampshire farm, political history and the lessons of aging are among the subjects explored in these direct, expressive poems. Reserve This Title
	Japanland: A Year in Search of Wa Muller, Karin \| Rodale, © 2005 \| 306.0952 M A documentary filmmaker seeking inner harmony recounts her high-spirited adventures in Japan. Reserve This Title
	Luck Is Luck: Poems Perillo, Lucia \| Random House, © 2005 \| 811 Perillo Clever constructions of 1950s culture and trenchant takes on feminism and mortality characterize this tough, witty collection of verse. Reserve This Title
	The March: A Novel Doctorow, E.L. \| Random House, © 2005 \| FIC D General Sherman’s legendary march through Georgia and the Carolinas is retraced in this panoramic historical tale of slavery, war and freedom. Reserve This Title
	Never Let Me Go Ishiguro, Kazuo \| Alfred A. Knopf, © 2005 \| FIC I In this elegantly crafted novel, an idyllic British boarding school is the dramatic setting for an alternate reality marked by childhood secrets and betrayals. Reserve This Title
	On Beauty Smith, Zadie \| Penguin Press, © 2005 \| FIC S An homage to Howards End, Smith’s engaging novel offers probing insights into changing family dynamics, individuality, race and class. Reserve This Title
	Please Don't Come Back from the Moon Bakopoulos, Dean \| Harcourt, © 2005 \| FIC B In this haunting first novel, a blue-collar suburb of Detroit is shaken by the gradual and mysterious disappearance of its family men. Reserve This Title
	Rules for Old Men Waiting: A Novel Pouncey, Peter \| Random House, © 2005 \| FIC P A retired historian sets out to write a World War I novel and finds his own life and losses bound up in the fiction he creates. Reserve This Title
	Small Island Levy, Andrea \| Picador, © 2005 \| FIC L The lives of a Jamaican immigrant couple and their British landlords collide in unexpected and intimate ways as London rebuilds itself from the devastation of World War II. Reserve This Title
	A Sudden Country: A Novel Fisher, Karen \| Random House, © 2005 \| FIC F In this unforgettable debut tale of the 1840s Oregon migration, a Scottish frontiersman’s life changes when he meets a pioneer woman who helps him confront his sorrow. Reserve This Title
	The Tattoo Artist Ciment, Jill \| Pantheon Books, © 2005 \| FIC C This provocative novel tells the story of an acclaimed New York artist who spends 30 years practicing her sacred craft on a remote South Pacific Island. Reserve This Title
	Vindication: A Life of Mary Wollstonecraft Gordon, Lyndall \| HarperCollins, © 2005 \| B Wollstonecr G Distinguished biographer Gordon vividly portrays the life and genius of the uncompromising, unconventional and prescient 18th Century feminist. Reserve This Title
	The War Works Hard Mikha’il, Dunya \| New Directions, © 2005 \| 892.71 Mikha’il This intimate, subversive and farsighted collection by an Iraqi poet chronicles the effects of tyranny and war on the psyche. Translated from the Arabic by Elizabeth Winslow. Reserve This Title
	Windows on the World: A Novel Beigbeder, Frédéric \| Miramax Books, © 2004 \| FIC B This gripping fictional account of September 11, 2001 juxtaposes the story of a family gathering on the morning of the terrorist attacks with a writer’s reflection of the event one year later. Translated from the French by Frank Wynne. Reserve This Title
	The Year of Magical Thinking Didion, Joan \| Alfred A. Knopf, © 2005 \| B Didion Generously written with candor and grace, Didion’s potent memoir records her effort to cope with her husband’s sudden death and her daughter’s illness and to understand grief. Reserve This Title
Back to the Branch Libraries home page Books to Remember is an annual list of 25 titles chosen for their ability to provide an informative or transformative reading experience for adults. Selection criteria include literary excellence, uniqueness of concept and command of subject matter. These books were selected by the following committee from the staff of The New York Public Library: Susan Chute, Frannie Crook, Malynda Dalton (Chair), Francie Einenkel, Faith Jones, Glenn Mills, Auburn Nelson. Selected titles appearing on this booklist may be available in recorded, braille or large print versions. For more information, please contact the Andrew Heiskell Braille and Talking Book Library, 40 West 20th Street, New York NY 10011-4211, (212) 206-5400, (212) 206-5458 (TTY). The New York Public Library Office of Adult and Information Services 455 Fifth Avenue New York, NY 10016-0122